Saint Mary's win over Alma means end of season for Hope softball

Monday

Apr 30, 2012 at 12:01 AMApr 30, 2012 at 11:00 PM

Coach Mary Vande Hoef was not happy about it, but the postseason fate of the Hope College softball team was in the hands of Saint Mary’s College. The Belles had to lose both games of a Sunday doubleheader with Alma for Hope to qualify for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and a chance to qualify for the Division III playoffs, but Saint Mary’s failed the Dutch by beating Alma 2-1 in the first game of their doubleheader.

Lee Lamberts

Coach Mary Vande Hoef was not happy about it, but the postseason fate of the Hope College softball team was in the hands of Saint Mary’s.

The Belles had to lose both games of a Sunday doubleheader with Alma for Hope to qualify for the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and a chance to qualify for the Division III playoffs.

“I don’t like that aspect of that because it’s out of our control,” Vande Hoef said of the Saint Mary’s situation after Hope split a Saturday doubleheader with Olivet. “We need (Alma) to win two and we would win the tiebreaker for fourth place.”

Saint Mary’s failed the Dutch by beating Alma 2-1 in the first game of their doubleheader.

Hope ends its season at 9-7 in the MIAA and 17-20 overall.

The Flying Dutch could still finished tied with Adrian of the Bulldogs lose both games of a doubleheader with Calvin this afternoon, but the tiebreaker rule favors Adrian there, too.

Hope and Adrian split their head-to-head meetings, so the second tiebreaker is determined based on meetings with the league’s first-place team. Adrian split with league champion Trine while Hope lost both of its meetings with the Thunder.

Vande Hoef expressed disappointment about how the season ended, especially for her two seniors — shortstop Brooke Nienhuis and outfielder Stephanie Faber.

“We’ve got two seniors and they’ve both had career years,” Vande Hoef said.

Nienhuis, batting leadoff, finished the season batting .442 with 36 runs scored. She was especially effective on Saturday when Hope faced a must-win game in the second game of the twinbill.

She went 4-for-5 in that game to finish her career with a school-record 30 hits in league games this spring and 61 for the season, the third highest ever. She had 18 multi-hit games, including nine with three or more hits.